Looking for energy efficiency in your ice machine?

In the war to lower the bottom line of your restaurant or food service business, I’m sure you’ve considered how much you spend on your energy bill each month. It is because of this desire by owners to keep costs down and thereby improve profits that has made energy efficient ice making and refrigeration units some of the best sellers on the market today. In fact, many companies have begun separating out their top performers in energy efficiency into a special section of their store. They know that owners want these products and are making great attempts to showcase energy efficient ice makers, fridges and freezers. Today, we are going to try and answer one question about energy efficiency in ice making: who makes the best one for commercial use?
The Candidates
Most of the top brands make a self-contained energy efficient ice machine that produces around 80-100 pounds of ice per hour. This includes models by Scotsman, Ice-O-Matic, Manitowoc and Hoshizaki. The price ranges of all of these models are all within about $500 retail of each other as well. This means we are going to be able to look at the two most important aspects of energy efficiency: performance and energy use. Let’s see how our big four stack up.
Performance and Energy Use
First, let’s talk performance. When it comes to ice production, Manitowoc and Ice-O-Matic take the cake. Their comparable models are at the top of the 100 pounds of ice per hour range we talked about earlier for the same price of similar units made by Hoshizaki or Scotsman. This means that you are getting about 10% more ice on average by going with an Ice-O-Matic or Manitowoc self-contained, energy efficient ice machine.
It’s clear that there are a couple models that stand out in performance, but is there a winner when it comes to energy use over time? The truth is that none of the units have a real edge in energy use over time. All energy efficient models ran about 8% more efficient on average than a traditional model. This means significant savings as opposed to a non-energy efficient unit, but between the four models no clear winner could be found on this front.
Little Extras
There are also some intangibles to consider when buying any piece of commercial kitchen equipment. These are things like warranty, company reputation and unique design. In energy efficient ice-machines for commercial use, there isn’t a lot of bells and whistles to be found. Two companies, however that stand out among the rest, are Manitowoc and Scotsman. Both have a good history of producing longer lasting units and provide exceptional customer service for their products.